THE former Celtic midfielder looks back on the day Celtic lost the 1994 League Cup Final and remembers captain and club legend's Paul McStay's tears and heartbreak.

Peter Grant: "I stood in the old bootroom with Paul and he just broke down crying. I tried to console him because we were very close but nothing was going to make him feel any better."

PETER GRANT says it took Celtic six months to recover from the hurt of losing a cup final to Raith Rovers.

And the Parkhead legend thinks Rangers will struggle to rid it from their system in just six days.

Grant was part of the Hoops squad that lost to the Fifers in the 1994-95 League Cup Final.

He was suspended for the Ibrox match but the midfielder will never forget the pain he felt after Raith’s penalty shootout win.

For Tommy Burns’s Celtic there were no microphones and no Meat Loafs. No Buds and no Bruce Springsteen anthems. Just hurt.

Fast forward 20 years, though, and the team across Glasgow is being slaughtered for their reaction to a cup shock against Raith. Boss Ally McCoist was criticised by a section of the support in the wake of their extra-time loss to Rovers after he was pictured singing at a post-match Ibrox function.

But it was a different story for Grant 20 years ago when Paul McStay’s penalty miss cost Celtic dear and he was left trying to comfort his skipper in the bowels of Parkhead.

Grant said: “Losing was a massive blow because Celtic hadn’t won a trophy for a long time. At Celtic or Rangers, you’re expected to win silverware every season.

“But yet again we failed to deliver and there was a huge dark cloud over us afterwards.

Daily Record

A stunned Charlie Nicholas and Paul McStay walk off following Celtic's 1994 League Cup Final defeat to Raith Rovers

“I was suspended for the game but I know how bad I felt. And that was nothing to what Paul was feeling as the guy who missed the penalty. He knew there would be a lot of criticism coming his way.

“We had to go back to Celtic Park that night to pick up our cars and meet up with wives and girlfriends. It was a very solemn place.

“I stood in the old bootroom with Paul and he just broke down crying. I tried to console him because we were very close but nothing was going to make him feel any better.

“All Paul could think of was that he was the guy who had let everyone down. The players, the manager, the fans, everyone.

“I knew what he was going through, in a sense, because I’d been there with him for those barren years. Even though I didn’t play, I still felt the pain.

“Remember, about 90 per cent of that side were Celtic supporters. We had all grown up with Celtic winning trophies. We knew what it meant to the fans and the club.”

In fact, Grant insists Burns’s side didn’t fully recover from the setback until they got their hands on the Scottish Cup six months later.

And after watching Rangers lose the Ramsdens Final at Easter Road on Sunday, he has warned McCoist’s men they could be hurting for a very long time.

Having analysed Dundee United in his role as a BT Sport pundit this season, he believes the Terrors will make it two cup exits in a week for the Light Blues.

Grant said: “Rangers were hot favourites, like we were, against Raith. We were both expected to beat them and it didn’t happen. It took us six months to recover.

“The hurt only left us when we won the Scottish Cup in 1995 against Airdrie.

“People ask me why I was so emotional at Hampden that day. They ask if it was because we’d won and I picked up the man-of-the-match award. Was it hell.

“It was just sheer relief at making up for the Raith defeat.

“I’ve watched Dundee United six times this season and they’ve been excellent. Jackie McNamara, Simon Donnelly and Darren Jackson have done a terrific job.

“Rangers will have to play well to beat United. Probably better than at any time since they left the top flight.

“If United play to form they’ll beat Rangers without a doubt.

“It’ll be a really tough game for Ally’s team and they’ll need to produce their best performance in two years just to have a chance.”

Grant was as stunned as anyone when John Baird’s winning goal won the Ramsdens for Grant Murray’s side and left Rangers devastated at Easter Road.

And he says McCoist’s players are now under huge pressure to produce against United and reach the May 17 Scottish Cup Final.

He said: “When you play for Rangers there’s a unique pressure.

“You have to know what you’re representing, the history and traditions of that club.

“That’s why 40-odd thousand people turn up every second week to see you.

“Rangers are still the second highest-paid group of players in Scotland so they’re expected to win trophies. The Rangers boys still have massive expectation on their shoulders.

“They’d have loved a trophy in the bank, even it was just the Ramsdens Cup.

“If it’s an egg and spoon race they should still want to win it.

“But it’s not necessarily the best players who play with Rangers or Celtic. It’s about who can handle the pressure of playing for those clubs.

“It takes a special type of character. I realised that when I came to England, why certain players couldn’t hack it at the Old Firm. It wasn’t down to their talent, it was down to the fact they couldn’t deal with having to be the best 24/7.

“That’ll never go away. And if you can’t handle that, you’re going to struggle.”